G20 climate fail?

Climate protesters hit the streets in Pittsburgh during G20 meeting 2

Young activists from the Avaaz Action Factory joined the mass “People’s March” into downtown Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon, not far from the site of the G20 Summit, after holding their own climate-focused march in the morning.  Their Twitter-friendly slogan is “G20 Climate FAIL,” criticizing what they say has been a lack of action toward a global climate treaty.  In particular, they believe President Obama is failing to show leadership on setting firm timelines and targets for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions.   

Still, the Avaazians remain hopeful that a significant agreement will emerge from December’s international climate treaty negotiations in Copenhagen, and seemed happy to be part of the scene.

G20 Voice logo

Emily Gertz is a New York City-based freelance journalist and editor who has written on business, design, health, and other facets of the environment for Grist, Dwell, Plenty, Worldchanging, and other publications.

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  1. LaurieWilliams Posted 1:50 pm
    26 Sep 2009

    Please consider our 10-min YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLHCvYj0kzk&feature=related
    (The Huge Mistake - Climate Change Solutions 2009). Based on more than 20 years each as public-sector environmental enforcement attorneys, my husband and I explain the flaws of the climate legislation currently being considered by Congress and why it would lock in climate degradation. We also epxlain the alternative. There is a real, effective and affordable solution to climate change, just no powerful monied interests to push for it. Find out how you can make a difference.
    Thank you for your consideration.
  2. bbabbott Posted 12:54 am
    28 Sep 2009

    Hey all--new to grist and enjoy all the content. just wrote this poem with global warming in mind and thought i'd share it. keep up the noble effort of social evolution. (please...)

    Forethought

    A word or thought will spark the form
    Of days unseen, not quite the norm.
    I fear my mind a pessimist
    But the scene seems real, a mental cist
    Which, benign or not, sinks heavy now
    Like a dying tree with a wilting bough.

    You ask what vision informs my thoughts?
    One with rising seas, our globe too hot.
    The one with famine, war and strife
    With water wars and shortened life.
    A world in which we sit and brood
    About the things we didn’t do
    To cool our souls and thus our earth
    And alchemize the anxious hurt.

    I’m sorry this depresses you
    But God Above it kills me too!
    So think ahead to putrid air
    And scorching sun, the singeing flare,
    And raise your human face to sky
    And ask your self “Why didn’t I?”

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